MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- It's common for a team to run its offense through its star player; the best players should touch the ball the most.
But in last week's loss to the Cleveland Browns, the Miami Dolphins struggled to get any skill player going outside of their star running back De'Von Achane, who finished with 98 total yards on 16 touches. The other seven Dolphins offensive players to record a carry or reception combined for 148 yards -- a number skewed by a 40-yard catch by Dee Eskridge on Miami's final offensive drive.
At one point, Miami had more penalty yards (105) than non-Achane yards of offense.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said his offense is not one-dimensional by design, and as the team prepares to face the Atlanta Falcons this week (1 p.m. ET, CBS), they're looking to diversify their production.
"I think there comes a level of confidence from the distributor when you do have successful touches," McDaniel said. "I would say that De'Von has done a very good job being where he's supposed to be in the timing of the play, and there's been a lot of situations where he wasn't the primary eligible that he's gotten a lot of touches there as well. I do think there's very talented players in our backfield that it does best for the team if we can spread the ball out."
Through seven games this season, Achane leads the team with 121 total touches, the 10th-most in the NFL; his next-closest teammate is fellow running back Ollie Gordon II with 32. He's accounted for roughly 42% of Miami's offensive touches this season, up from 33% last season. The third-year back has essentially absorbed Tyreek Hill's workload after the star receiver suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 4. But McDaniel said turnovers have been more influential over Miami's ball distribution than any injury.
"I think it's a lot easier when you have games if you don't turn the ball over," he said. "I think every time you have a multi-turnover game, you end up saying, 'We should have ran the ball more,' and every single time that you have a multi-turnover game, it's really hard to get the distribution of carries that you'd like.
"One game in particular that strikes a chord with me is the Buffalo game, because the turnover that was produced happened on the last drive and prior to, there was no turnovers to that point, it was a little easier to diversify those touches, which I think is the best for the offense when you have capable players like that. I am looking to do that, but there's a lot of factors that play into that for it to be executed, which is what we're looking to execute better on this week."
In that Buffalo game, four Dolphins players touched the ball at least five times and Achane and Gordon combined for 100 rushing yards. Miami ultimately lost the game after a critical Tua Tagovailoa interception on its final meaningful drive, but the game itself was seen as a positive for a team that looked destined for a top pick in the 2026 NFL draft.
The Dolphins have turned the ball over seven times in the past two games, with Tagovailoa throwing three interceptions in each of them. Uncoincidentally, Achane has just one fewer touch than the rest of his teammates combined over that span.
Tagovailoa suggested one fix, requested his eligible receivers to find ways to re-enter his line of sight on any given passing play.
"I think it's me finding the spaces that guys are going to be, kind of being on the same page with those guys," Tagovailoa said Wednesday. "I think that's been something that we've been working on since Monday and yesterday, as well, with a couple of the guys, being able to see them. If I can't see you, you can't see me, just find a space to maneuver through that, things like that. We're working through all of that and hoping that that's going to be something come Sunday that will get fixed."
This all isn't to say Achane won't be a major part of Miami's gameplan, even with a more widespread distribution.
He's tied for the league lead with five rushes of at least 20 yards this season and has the second-most rushes of at least 50 yards since entering the league in 2023.
McDaniel wants to get the rest of Miami's playmakers involved, but Achane remains the centerpiece of this offense.
"I can impact a lot, man," Achane said. "Anytime I feel like I get the ball, I can change the game. I've just got to make the most of it and when I do make the ball, make sure that we're staying ahead of the sticks."